Won't ever support 'Hindi, Hindutva, Hindustan' agenda: Tharoor

Reacting to BJP leader Jyoti Mirdha's clarification over her "samvidhanik badlav" remark, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday, 4 April, said the opposition's concern stems from the proponents of Hindu Rashtra's "Hindi, Hindutva, Hindustan" agenda.

The Congress had on Tuesday, 2 April said that after Anantkumar Hegde, another leader of the ruling BJP, Jyoti Mirdha, openly said that the party's aim is to change the Constitution

The Congress said the remark exposed the "deliberate strategy" of the BJP.

Tharoor on X shared an undated video of Mirdha, the BJP candidate from Rajasthan's Nagaur in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, showing her purportedly talking about the need for the saffron party to secure a majority in both houses of Parliament to be able to make constitutional amendments.

Mirdha later, in a post, issued a clarification saying that she made the comment in a public meeting on March 31 and that it was "unnecessarily blown out of proportion by some honourable leaders of the opposition." She also mentioned the 106 amendments made to the Constitution over the years.

Responding to her criticism, Tharoor on Thursday in a post on X said, "Dear @jyotimirdha, since we used to be colleagues in the Lok Sabha, let me respond constructively to your clarification. The very example you have given confirms that BJP does not need a crushing majority to pass popular amendments in the national interest, because those will attract the support of Opposition parties (just as the Congress happily supported the Women’s Reservation Bill, which we had first proposed in 2013)."

"It is only to push divisive amendments betraying the spirit of Ambedkar Ji's Constitution that any party needs numbers to override other parties. The 106 amendments you refer to all attracted consensual support from almost all parties," the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

"Our concern is that such talk of needing to amend the constitution emerges from the 'Hindi, Hindutva, Hindustan' agenda of the proponents of Hindu Rashtra, which will never attract Opposition support, since it violates the basic ethos of our country," he said.

"As the heir of generations of Congressmen in your family who fought to keep India free of divisive and communal agendas, I hope you will reflect on the dangers of the cause you are now espousing," Tharoor added.

Mirdha had on Tuesday said that all the distinguished individuals criticising her remarks are well-versed in law and the Constitution.

Mirdha said, "In the past, many amendments have been made to the Constitution with the national and public interest in mind."

In the video that led to the row, Mirdha said, "Desh ke hit mein kai kathor nirnay karne padte hain. Unke liye humein samvidhanik badlav karne padhte hain. Agar samvidhan ke andar humein koi badlav karna hota hai toh aap mein se kai log jaante hain uske liye dono jo humare sadan hain, Lok Sabha aur Rajya Sabha, unke andar haami chahiye hoti hai (Several tough decisions need to be taken in the country's interest. We have to make constitutional amendments for them. If we have to make amendments in the Constitution, many of you would know that we need the nod of both Houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha)."